Formula E in Jeddah: Dan Ticktum wins 2nd free practice, Rowland brings out the red flag

At a warm 29 degrees Celsius, the Formula E drivers took to the track in Jeddah on Friday afternoon for the second free practice session of the race weekend. After the two German drivers Maximilian Günther and Pascal Wehrlein finished the first session as the fastest yesterday and Jake Dennis completed the top 3, Dan Ticktum managed to win the session this time. The Briton was followed by compatriot Dennis in the Andretti and German Pascal Wehrlein. Reigning world champion Oliver Rowland brought out a red flag during the practice session.

The green flag was waved punctually at 13:30 local time and so the cars took to the track on time. At the start, there was a small moment between Porsche driver Pascal Wehrlein, who was in the way of Mitch Evans in the Jaguar and the New Zealander complained about the German.

The lap times were still comparatively slow at the start. Pascal Wehrlein led the field after ten minutes of driving with a lap time of 1:17.588 minutes and was able to stay in the lead for a long time. Nyck de Vries and Max Günther were positioned behind him, 1.5 tenths of a second behind Wehrlein.

For comparison: The track record in Jeddah was set last year by Taylor Barnard in 350 kW with a lap time of 1:14.804 minutes. The best time from the first free practice session on Thursday was 1:15.714 minutes set by Günther. So the drivers were still a long way away from that time.

Antonio Felix da Costa was then able to improve his time and was the first driver to set a lap time of 1:16 minutes. He managed a lap time of 1:16.126 minutes. A few minutes later, Sebastien Buemi followed with a lap time of 1:16.084 minutes, replacing Felix da Costa at the front of the field.

Rowland brings out a red flag

This was followed by a costly mistake by reigning world champion Oliver Rowland, which resulted in a red flag: the Briton misjudged the entry into the chicane of turn 15 and made contact with the wall, damaging his right outer tyre and bending the front axle. This ended the session early for the Nissan driver. "Sorry, stupid mistake", apologised Rowland to his team over the radio.

🔴 RED FLAG 🔴

A big moment for Oliver Rowland as he collides with the wall #JeddahEPrix pic.twitter.com/xDaNI3Ppwi

— Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) February 13, 2026

After a few minutes, the other drivers continued with Buemi still leading the field, but the Swiss stayed in the garage after the start and was immediately replaced by Norman Nato, who clocked 1:15.581 minutes, closely followed by Edoardo Mortara, Pascal Wehrlein, Nyck de Vries, Nick Cassidy and Lucas di Grassi. As a result, Buemi quickly dropped back to 7th place and lost the lead.

Porsche powertrain proved dominant

Shortly before the end of the session, Dan Ticktum was able to significantly improve his time and position himself behind Wehlein, followed shortly afterwards by Jake Dennis, who took the fastest time with a lap time of 1:15.381 minutes. This meant that the top three positions were all held by Porsche-powered cars, with Andretti in the lead, followed by Wehrlein in the Porsche and Ticktum in third place. Nato, Mortara, Felix da Costa, Günther, Barnard, Drugovich and Vergne completed the top 10 of the 2nd free practice session.

Chaos shortly before the end

The end of the session did not go so well for Tcktum's Cupra Kiro team-mates, however: Marti almost crashed into the back of an Envision car and the end of the 2nd free practice session did not go so well for DS Penske driver Barnard either: he was obstructed by Lucas di Grassi.

Formula E continues this afternoon at 13:40 CET. Qualifying is then scheduled for Saudi Arabia. We at e-Formula.dnews will of course be at the start again.

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